


Can I Be Your Valentine?

by gray_autumn_sky



Series: Missing Year Fics [20]
Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-14
Updated: 2018-02-14
Packaged: 2019-03-18 01:30:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 852
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13671444
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gray_autumn_sky/pseuds/gray_autumn_sky
Summary: Robin watches as Regina teaches Roland about Valentine's Day traditions--traditions she used share with Henry.





	Can I Be Your Valentine?

**Author's Note:**

  * For [SomewhereApart](https://archiveofourown.org/users/SomewhereApart/gifts).



Robin stands back in the shadows watching curiously–watching as Regina lifts Roland into her lap. She’s sitting on the floor with her feet tucked underneath herself–and despite all of the things he’s been warned of, there’s not a fiber in him that’s worried about the Evil Queen spending time with his son. Though he’s barely begun to acknowledge it, it only makes him love her more.

He watches as Roland leans back into her, watching as she arranges their supplies. He can only identify a couple of them–and he suspects the same is true for his son, but it all looks harmless, and Roland’s eyes light up as she shakes a little tube of shimmering red sand, the little particles glittering as they catch the light. Regina reaches for a sheet of paper–a bright pink one that Roland points to, choosing for himself–and she whispers something to him that makes him giggle as she folds the paper in half.

A grin pulls onto his lips as Roland picks up a little red and white stick. “Is this really a  _magic_ marker?”

“It is,” Regina nods. “See?” She reaches out and turns the stick toward him, her finger tracing along its center. “That said magic.”

“Wow,” Roland breathes out, leaning back and looking up at her. “Can you show me how it works?”

She grins and presses a kiss to the top of his head–and Robin feels his chest flutter as he watches Roland’s eyes widen as she pulls the red top from the stick and helps him form his fingers around it, and then a little gasp escapes Roland as she presses the stick to the paper and wherever it touches a little red line appears–and when Regina lifts the paper for him to see, Roland’s laugh rings out. “It’s a heart!”

“It is,” she tells him. “And now we’re going to decorate it.”

Roland blinks and nods–and then his brow furrows. “Because it’s a Valentine.”

“What’s that?”

“It’s…a card that you give to someone on Valentine’s Day to let them know that you care about them.”

Roland nods and blinks as he looks up at her. “What’s Valentine’s Day?”

“In my world, it was a holiday that celebrated love, and people would do all sorts of special things for the people they loved.” She draws in a breath and something flickers in her eyes that he can’t quite make out, but has seen a handful of times before. “When my son was little, like you, we used to make cards like this one for his classmates and then I’d make him a special breakfast and put a little box of chocolate candies in his lunch.”

“I like chocolate!”

“I know you do,” Regina laughs, pressing another kiss to Roland’s messy curls.

Robin watches as Roland leans forward and picks up the tube of shimmery sand. “I can decorate it with this?”

Regina nods. “It’s messy, but–”

“I like messy.”

“I know,” Regina laughs. “Let me show you how to make it stick.”

“With magic?”

“With glue.”

“Is glue magic?”

“No,” Regina laughs as she loosens the orange cap of the bottle of glue. “But it’s still fun.”

He watches as Regina helps Roland to trace the heart at the center of the paper in glue–and then, she screws off the top of little tube of red sand and tells him to shake it carefully over the line of glue. Roland nods as he takes the tube from her–and all of the sudden, flecks of shimmering cascade down onto the paper.

“It looks like red snow!”

“It’s glitter,” she tells him with a soft laugh. “Keep sprinkling it.”

Roland does and soon her lap is covered in the red glitter–and when the glue is covered, Roland looks up at her, very clearly pleased with himself. “Now what?” He asks with wide eyes. “Can I use the magic marker again?”

“Sure,” Regina nods. “Valentine’s usually have little messages written on them.”

Roland nods as his face turns serious. “What kind of message?”

“Something that lets your Valentine know that you care about them.”

“Oh,” Roland murmurs as he looks back to the card. “Can it be for anyone?”

“Yes.”

“And can you only have one Valentine?”

“No,” Regina says. “Some people have lots of Valentines, but… usually there’s only one special Valentine.”

Roland blinks up at her. “Was your son your special Valentine?”

“He was,” Regina answers in small voice that’s barely audible. “Every year.”

“Can I be your Valentine?” Roland asks, his eyes widening. “I’d like to be your Valentine.”

Her expression warms. “I’d like that, too.”

Again, Robin feels his chest flutter as Regina hugs Roland back against her, cuddling him and rocking him in her arms as he giggles, examining a box of magic markers–and a little grin pulls onto his lips and he wonders what other Valentine’s Day traditions are celebrated in her world, and as he shrinks back into the shadows, he finds himself thinking of what it’d be like if she were his Valentine.


End file.
